Container leaves Port Hueneme, heads to Guatemala with donations for children in need

A container carrying donations for school children and their families living and working at a trash dump outside of Guatemala City left the Port of Hueneme Wednesday.(Photo: PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PORT OF HUENEME)

A 40-foot Chiquita shipping container departed the Port of Hueneme, not full of bananas, but full of books, backpacks, clothes and more for children in need in Guatemala.

René Corado, founder of El Lustrador Foundation in Oxnard, Chiquita Brands International, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 46 and the Port of Hueneme collaborated to bring the items to school children in Guatemala — something Corado and his foundation have been doing for several years.

"I know the needs of these children because I used to be a shoeshine boy in Guatemala," Corado said. "These kids are working in the morning to help their parents and going to school in the afternoon."

Port employees and longshoremen, and members of the community, spent three months dropping off donations of gently used clothes, new clothes, school supplies, backpacks and sports equipment to be sorted into boxes and eventually make the trip to Guatemala in an effort they dubbed "Fill the Container." Ventura County students gathered earlier this month to sort through all the donations and load them into the container.

Corado uses the profits from his book "El Lustrador" — an ode to his time as a shoeshine boy in Guatemala — to regularly fund scholarships for children in need in his home country. He once even partnered with other organizations to bring an ambulance to Guatemala, but he said this container is the biggest donation he's helped orchestrate.

Corado thinks the donations will benefit more than 200 children and their parents living at the Zona Tres trash dump on the outskirts of Guatemala City.

"I am so happy, I cannot explain how happy I am," Corado said through tears. "These kids need all this, this is going to really push the kids' spirits up, these kids don't feel anything, they live in cardboard houses. This means a lot. It's a big thing for me and I am sure it's a big thing for them. They can see there is still hope and there are still good people in the world."

Oxnard Harbor Commission Secretary Jess Ramirez told The Star he didn't know a container could get that full.

"There are a lot of resources here (in the United States)," Ramirez said. "In places like Guatemala and other Latin American countries there aren't. I get emotional because there's very little we can do, there's so much need — there's so much need in the world that we just can't do it all. But it makes me feel good that we can at least do this."

The shipping container left the Port of Hueneme last week on the vessel and will take about a week to reach its final destination at Puerto Quetzal, the major West Coast Port of Guatemala. When it arrives, Port delegation will meet the container in Guatemala and see its delivery to the children. El Lustrador Foundation will disperse the contents of the container to the kids.

For Corado, his hope is that the shipping container full of everyday items so many take for granted will spark some inspiration in the young students.

"If we help these kids to have an education, they will stay in the country and make the country bigger," Corado said. "You are making these kids have a dream and these kids have a future."